The Clansman: An Historical Romance of the Ku Klux Klan is the title of a novel published in 1905 It was the second work in the Ku Klux Klan trilogy by Thomas F. Dixon, Jr. that included The Leopard's Spots and The Traitor. It was influential in providing the mythology and ideology that helped support the revival of the Ku Klux Klan (KKK). The novel was immediately adapted by its author as a play entitled The Clansman (1905) and by D. W. Griffith as the groundbreaking 1915 silent movie The Birth of a Nation. Many advocates for African-American rights associated the film's racism with Dixon rather than with director D. W. Griffith